Sad music.

natty · Post by **natty** » Thu Jan 08, 2004 7:29 pm

Does anyone else find that if they listen to sad/depressing/heartbroken music (e.g. LAGWAFIS, Joy Division, Low) when they're feeling fragile that it exacerbates their condition and makes things seem much worse, comforting as it is to know someone once felt as shit as you?

On the orther side of the coin, do people find as well that if they're feeling particularly depressed, and can't be bothered with life, putting on some bangin' techno (works for me, anyway!) or upbeat shit helps them get on with things. Anyone else?

Silent Corner/Empty Stage · Thu Jan 08, 2004 10:18 pm

When I went through an extremely dark period round 1991 I found that Peter Hammill's music pretty much kept me alive. His lyrics expressed my every feeling and really put things in perspective. He's like a god to me! At one moment incredibly quiet and delicate, the next loud and jarring. Discovering Spiritualized also was a major life changing event. When Pure Phase came out I really got an awful lot out of it. Truly my favorite album of the 90s (a generally crap decade for music IMHO...)

twentysixdollars · Post by **twentysixdollars** » Thu Jan 08, 2004 10:29 pm

I'm not too sure if I agree on either point. The rather ponderous, indie-angsty material like Joy Division has never appealed to me, depressed or nay. I find that the best records are not of this or that mood, but they embrace and deepen (or ameliorate) the emotions of the listener. There are tinges of sadness in the most upbeat records and understated flares of joy in the darkest, I think. Van Morrison's Into the Music could be seen as an unequivocally happy, folksy record, but a close listen to the lyrics and the vocals reveals a fair bit of pain and regret and longing for the past, underscoring the hard-won nature of the joy. The VU's White Light/White Heat on the other hand is usually described as dark, but for my part, it's an ode to fun - unwholesome fun, dangerous fun, but in the title track and Sister Ray there's a palpable enthusiasm. Maybe it's a little disturbing, but it doesn't have to be. The theme's apparently that fun is fun. And then there's a question of how seriously one takes the record; in dark moments Marvin Gaye's Here My Dear may seem overbearingly bleak, but with a little ironic distance it's vaguely and disquietingly funny, especially considering how far from reality the lyrics are.

What great records have in common is not happiness or sadness but hope, and flexibility. So the best ones should work whatever mood you happen to be in. I think the body has natural cycles of excitement and relaxation and one should listen accordingly. For my part my choice of record has more to do with the season than how I'm feeling. And that's how I can still skip down the street like Jude Law in AI with Songs of Love and Hate on the minidisc.

appledelphy · Post by **appledelphy** » Thu Jan 08, 2004 11:37 pm

Silent Corner/Empty Stage wrote:When I went through an extremely dark period round 1991 I found that Peter Hammill's music pretty much kept me alive. His lyrics expressed my every feeling and really put things in perspective. He's like a god to me! At one moment incredibly quiet and delicate, the next loud and jarring. Discovering Spiritualized also was a major life changing event. When Pure Phase came out I really got an awful lot out of it. Truly my favorite album of the 90s (a generally crap decade for music IMHO...)

cool

I was also down in 91 and started getting into hammill and VDGG a lot. I remember buying 5 hammill solo lp:s in one day. My favourites were Nadirs big chance and Fools mate.
and then in 93 I saw spz in Denmark and forever stopped feeling like an anachronism..

of cousre I also agree with what 26$ was getting at..when all else fails u just put on some early Cohen!

clewsr · Post by **clewsr** » Fri Jan 09, 2004 8:59 am

One of the things I think spiritualized do so well is make a sad song uplifting. The 12" version Feel So Sad never fails to cheer me up if I'm feeling down, and recurring has always made me feel better when I've been fragile through being depressed or over doing things. It eased many strange nights of drug induced psychosis in the past.

ebbsandflows · Post by **ebbsandflows** » Fri Jan 09, 2004 9:09 am

If you're painting a picture of a star on a white canvass, you have to concentrate on colouring in the dark bits in order to see the brightness of the star.

Like romeo and juliette is the most depressing story but one of the most beautiful life affirming plays that exists (imho).

In this way, listening to unspeakably sad music can often make me unspeakably happy. Low i'll agree with do this very very well. Naturally spz also. Never manages to access leonard. Some of Bjorks soundscapes also have this effect on me, especially from homogenic. Parts of the cure aswell when they tone down the synth sounds.

tremelovirus · Post by **tremelovirus** » Fri Jan 09, 2004 10:41 am

Listening to some dark depressing shit is often the remedy to overcome your depression.Sometimes it can make u feel better.

plymwhites · Post by **plymwhites** » Thu Jan 15, 2004 2:04 am

You got that right Tremelo.....only 3 lp's have ever had such an effect on me as to need a repeat playing on 1st hearing........
JOY DIVISION...CLOSER
STONE ROSES...STONE ROSES
SPIRITUALIZED.....LADIES AND GENTLEMEN.....

the Elvis mix on LIGWAFIS has to be one of the most meaningful songs ever recorded.......sums things up for me I guess........
Fucked up inside ??? I guess ........but thanks for the music...